Many of the people I communicate with that use their iPad as a computer or laptop have issues with pages reloading, seeing all the information in a link and moving to new links. I do not think iPads as they are
are ready for prime time. I think they are a toy for people with too much money. I think they may work as portable game machines and e readers. I do not own an iPad nor do I want one *(:>* ymmv

“Stay Hungry Stay Foolish"
Steve Jobs

"There are only two mantras yum and yuk mine is yum "
Bernard Mickey Wrangle<>Tom Robbins<> "Still Life With Woodpecker"

Quotehaikuman
I do not think iPads as they are
are ready for prime time. I think they are a toy for people with too much money. I think they may work as portable game machines and e readers. I do not own an iPad nor do I want one *(:>* ymmv

I disagree. You admit you don't own one, so you really don't know how they can be used. I own one and believe me, I don't have too much money. I do not play games but I do read books. It has not replaced my MBP and I don't see that happening in the near future, but it will at some point. They will only get faster and capable of doing more, they are not a fad or a toy for that matter.

Sorry, haikuman, and I am saying this in the spirit of discussion: it isn't made for you or that line of thinking. As mstudio says, it's a stepping stone device. Convergence, maybe, is the word I'm looking for, but it's not just a toy for people with too much money; I use mine as an ereader, yes, but almost never launch a game app. I love sitting in the backyard with my kids (it's rather dark where we are) and using the StarWalk app to teach some rudimentary astronomy. I've used it when working on Macs at others' houses and offices to view how-to video (HTML5, of course; ). Been to Doc offices where they're using it for everything from prescriptions to updating records to showing patients video/cutaways of bodies and procedures. I know several pilots who won't fly without them now. And I'm not even scratching the surface.

Quotehaikuman
I do not think iPads as they are
are ready for prime time. I think they are a toy for people with too much money. I think they may work as portable game machines and e readers. I do not own an iPad nor do I want one *(:>* ymmv

I disagree. You admit you don't own one, so you really don't know how they can be used. I own one and believe me, I don't have too much money. I do not play games but I do read books. It has not replaced my MBP and I don't see that happening in the near future, but it will at some point. They will only get faster and capable of doing more, they are not a fad or a toy for that matter.

Didn't people call Macs toys at one point?

You may be right mstudio I will happily eat crow when it is appropriate . . . until then I do not see an iPad in my future *(:>*

“Stay Hungry Stay Foolish"
Steve Jobs

"There are only two mantras yum and yuk mine is yum "
Bernard Mickey Wrangle<>Tom Robbins<> "Still Life With Woodpecker"

I think you have to look past the hardware. It will certainly have faster processors with each iteration, but you can bet Apple will continue to improve it's iCloud offering to differentiate it from other tablet makers.

Now that iCloud has taken care of a few nagging issues, I have several family members (seniors, mostly) who are about to move completely away from their traditional computers altogether. One or two have done a good stretch of time (a few weeks? a few months?) without launching their Mac or PC altogether, instead just using the iPad as their primary device (email, photos, music, movies, web, shopping).

I would say probably in the next version or three a segment (which is already there, admittedly) who are iPad only users. The software continues to evolve and it will make it easier to do so. Storage will get better but it as we already see we're heading towards full cloud integration. Battery life will continue to improve, and I think a big coming step is inductive charging. (In a s/f novel I read once, the tablet devices (I think they were called Flexis (flex-E's)) were flexible table computers (this predates AVATAR but it was similar) could be charged just about anywhere in the ship by just "slapping" it on the corridor or room wall; they drew a charge from the ambient energy coursing through the ship. S/F, sure, but a germ of an idea.)

I think the turning point for many will be Microsoft Office for iPad, which I am sure is at least in the experimental works right now.

in my anecdotal observation, most people have far more computing power than they actually use (though i'm not one of them). many have moved to laptops in lieu of a desktop. give them a decent keyboard and they'd be just as happy with an even more portable tablet device.

the iPad is the star trekkian future. btw, i think most on this forum would not be happy with JUST an iPad. we're not like those OTHER people.

"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama

Quotegraylocks
in my anecdotal observation, most people have far more computing power than they actually use (though i'm not one of them). many have moved to laptops in lieu of a desktop. give them a decent keyboard and they'd be just as happy with an even more portable tablet device.

the iPad is the star trekkian future. btw, i think most on this forum would not be happy with JUST an iPad. we're not like those OTHER people.

yeah, pretty much. I'm probably going to buy a new iPad but I'm trying to make a concerted effort to be less wired (I know, buying an iPad does not appear to jibe with this philosophy).

Quotehaikuman
Many of the people I communicate with that use their iPad as a computer or laptop have issues with pages reloading, seeing all the information in a link and moving to new links. I do not think iPads as they are
are ready for prime time. I think they are a toy for people with too much money. I think they may work as portable game machines and e readers. I do not own an iPad nor do I want one *(:>* ymmv

Some day you'll be sitting in a comfy lounge chair on a slightly windy promenade deck of your favorite cruise ship trying to play solitaire wishing you had one of those toys that had a solitaire app. so the cards wouldn't blow away while using the ship's hot spot to email friends back home. With a little luck the ship will have toys you can borrow to make your relaxing day more enjoyable.

I don't think I could replace a laptop or desktop with an ipad, either.
I'd like to have one, but I don't think I need one.
This, after having used one for a bit.

"""Some day you'll be sitting in a comfy lounge chair on a slightly windy promenade deck of your favorite cruise ship trying to play solitaire wishing you had one of those toys that had a solitaire app. so the cards wouldn't blow away while using the ship's hot spot to email friends back home. With a little luck the ship will have toys you can borrow to make your relaxing day more enjoyable. """

Do not be trying to confuse me with logic and good sense
I am not looking for that stuff on this issue *(:>*

“Stay Hungry Stay Foolish"
Steve Jobs

"There are only two mantras yum and yuk mine is yum "
Bernard Mickey Wrangle<>Tom Robbins<> "Still Life With Woodpecker"

As others have mentioned, there's room for improvement in battery life.

Also, in screen size - there's a good inch all around the existing iPad screen that doesn't need to be there. The current iPad screen is a few inches too small to completely replace printed music on a piano's music stand*. I can see there being markets for both smaller and larger screen versions.

I think most of the ongoing improvement in the tablet experience will come from higher, cheaper bandwidth. Making money providing that will be difficult. By selling hardware to exploit it I think Apple is on the right side of that buildout.

*PS: even so, ForScore is a great app for music reading and organizing, especially coupled with a Bluetooth foot pedal; I read about this here a few weeks ago.

The most important things I see that need to happen to the iPad going forward is primarily weight reduction/management, followed somewhat by increases in horse power. Of course, the latter usually dictates increased battery life and hence increased battery capacity (which usually means battery weight). Let's just hope the increases in computational abilities are achieved through more power efficient chip designs and such. And the only reason I'm calling on this horse power is because I can see this being used as a light productivity station (word processing, etc.) in conjunction with a keyboard and printer. The most important thing those is reducing weight.

I believe the iPad has just scratched the surface of what can be done with this technology. I envision a classroom with desktops that have an iPad like screen (if it breaks, have the janitor come in and replace the desktop).

Just one possibility, and I think it would be great if Apple could get the ball rolling on something like this.

“There is no greater calling than to serve your fellow men. There is no greater contribution than to help the weak. There is no greater satisfaction than to have done it well.”

Quotehaikuman
Many of the people I communicate with that use their iPad as a computer or laptop have issues with pages reloading, seeing all the information in a link and moving to new links. I do not think iPads as they are
are ready for prime time. I think they are a toy for people with too much money. I think they may work as portable game machines and e readers. I do not own an iPad nor do I want one *(:>* ymmv

I tend agree with you Rudie. I have a 1st iPad 64Gb 3G and I'm actually using it right now but I find myself using it
less and less. I still prefer my White MacBook. The iPad makes a great eReader, weather tracker, I really like the
TWC App and HBO Go. I hate trying to copy and paste anything with the iPad mainly because of the page refreshes
everytime I switch Tabs regardless even if I only have 2 Tabs open, I have to paste everything to Notes and copy all
that paste into a thread or whatever I might copying and pasting into. I hear people say all the time that Desktop's
days are number due to the iPad, I just don't believe that. My MacBook is way more productive than the iPad and my
iMac 27" with 19" additional Display is even more productive than my MacBook. I've been known to label the iPad as
a toy in the past and to a degree I think it still is but with the New iPad and retina display and faster processor I could
see myself doing some photo restoration of old family photos on it if I had the newer model.

One use I have for the iPad is a collection of every PDF manual I can find for items we own around the home and for
farm equipment on the families farming operation, it's nice to be able just pull them up, it also makes a nice device for
storing MSDS sheets.